President Duterte graces the 67th Birthday of the Philippine Marine Corps

President Duterte graces the 67th birthday of Philippine Marine Corps at PMC Headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, Tuesday, 7 November 2017.

On this date, sixty seven years ago, on orders from President Elpidio Quirino and Ramon Magsaysay, then Secretary of National Defense, the Corps was  organized on November 7, 1950, as A Company of the Philippine Fleet's 1st Marine Battalion, which was then headquartered in Cavite City, in Naval Base Cavite.

Personnel from the United States Army and United States Marine Corps helped train the very first Philippine Marines in combat and amphibious duties in Fort Bonifacio in Makati City and in various other locations.

Lieutenant (senior grade) Manuel Gomez was its first commandant, with then Lieutenant (junior grade) Gregorio Lim assisting him, with six other officers (4 seconded from the Navy and two from the Philippine Army) joining them, several of these officers being veterans of the Second World War.

Their hard work and training would pay off as the Marine Company conducted its first amphibious landing on April 19, 1951 in Umiray, Quezon province, and took part in battle for the first time on June 4 of the same year in Nueva Ecija against communist rebels.

These and other notable battles in various parts of the country, as well as overseas deployments to Korea, led to the Navy's decision to complete the 1st Marine Battalion with the raising of B Company in 1955 and the Headquarters and Service Company also in the same year, thus the marine battalion of one HQ company and two marine rifle companies, with now LCDR Lim in charge, was finally complete.  

November 7, the date of the 1955 formal raising of the 1st Marine Battalion, is the official date of the Corps Birthday to this very day.